The present invention relates generally to a method and system for drilling and more particularly to a technique for improving the ease of drilling into a report.
Drilling is a known process that allows a user to dynamically change the level of detail in an open report. When a user has executed a report instance it is frequently the case that the user, having examined the results of the execution, wishes to execute another, similar, report instance to obtain supplemental information. When a user does this, we say that the user is drilling into the original report instance. Several drilling techniques are currently known in the art. A first of these techniques is xe2x80x9cdrilling downxe2x80x9d, which drills to a lower level of attribute. The resulting report will display data with a greater level of detail. For example, drilling down could cause a display to move its focus from a given year to a given month, to a given week, and finally to a given day. A second technique is called xe2x80x9cdrilling upxe2x80x9d, which simply proceeds in and opposite direction to drilling down. A third technique is called xe2x80x9cdrilling withinxe2x80x9d, which drills to a different hierarchy within the same dimension. An example of xe2x80x9cdrilling withinxe2x80x9d would be moving from an item list to a color list.
All of these drilling techniques are performed within an open report between pre-existing components. As a matter of definition, a report includes data analysis created by combining a template (the format), with a filter (the content). A report is a data set that returns the results of a business question posed by an end user of a decision support system. The data warehouse often contains hundreds of gigabytes of data including records for every day, multiple stores, items, etc. However, a single report only contains a specific subset of the data warehouse.
In the known drilling techniques, the user drills in an open report in one of the above-identified ways in order to access existing report instances. However, previously, during each drilling action, users have generally been limited to drilling within a dimension or within a narrow scope of dimensions. Furthermore, users have been required to select a drilling instance prior to each drilling action. Additionally, users have had little guidance with respect to determining the location of information most relevant to their research
Accordingly, a technique is needed to increase the ease of drilling, specifically by providing a mechanism by which users can access a greater breadth of information and automatically navigate between report instances in a predefined manner based on information provided by subject matter experts.
According to the present invention, a technique for guiding drilling into a report is provided. In one embodiment, the technique is realized by a system for guiding a user""s drilling into a report, the report formed through combining a template with a filter and including a plurality of dimensions. The system comprises: a report server for managing reports; drill transformation tools accessible to the report server for allowing a user to drill within a first dimension or from the first dimension to a second dimension, the drill transformation tools including a module for receiving information including a report instance and a user""s drilling selection and a module for processing the information to produce a transformed drill instance; and drill map management tools accessible to the report server for managing stored information related to each report, the stored information including a drill map containing a sequence of possible drill paths associated with each report to facilitate drilling.
In accordance with other aspects of the present invention, a method is provided for guiding a user""s drilling into a report. The method comprises the steps of: receiving information including a report instance and a user""s selection on a report instance; receiving a user""s drilling request; offering the user a drilling choice, the drilling choice including a report server selection option in which a report server selects at least one drill path based on a pre-existing drill map for the report, the drilling choice further including a self-selection option in which the user specifies the drilling path; creating a new report definition based on the received drilling choice; and executing a new report.
In accordance with still further aspects of the present invention, a method is provided for guiding a user""s drilling into a report. The method comprises the steps of: receiving information including a report instance and a user""s selection on a report instance; receiving a user""s drilling request; accessing a drill map associated with the report instance, the drill map including a sequence of drill paths; providing a user with a selection of drill paths, the selection including at least one possible drill path; receiving a path selection from the user; creating a new report definition based on the received user selection; and executing a new report.
In an additional aspect of the invention, a method of guiding a user""s drilling into a report is provided. The method comprising the steps of receiving information including a report instance and a user""s selection on a report instance; receiving a user""s drilling request; accessing a drill map, the drill map having been constructed by an expert capable of guiding the user through an investigation; providing the user with a selection including at least one drill path selected from the drill map; and creating a new report definition based on the selection. The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof as shown in the appended drawings. While the present invention is described below with reference to preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto. Those of ordinary skill in the art having access to the teachings herein will recognize additional implementations, modifications, and embodiments, as well as other fields of use, which are within the scope of the present invention as disclosed and claimed herein, and with respect to which the present invention could be of significant utility.